Insurers Can't Ditch Lifetime Workers' Comp: Texas High Court

By Kat Greene

Law360, Los Angeles (August 30, 2013, 9:09 PM ET) -- The Texas high court on Friday refused to rewrite into state law a rule that would enable insurers to contest lifetime benefits after they’ve already been awarded to employees who were injured on the job, finding current Texas law mandated that such benefits be permanent.

Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. and the Texas Department of Insurance’s Division of Workers’ Compensation asked the court to determine that insurers can revisit lifetime benefits claims long after they’ve been approved, a ruling that would rewrite into Texas law a rule...